Border agency, Health Canada need to get on the same page: auditor general

The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Health Canada must clarify their responsibilities to ensure the safety of imported products such as medical devices and pest control products, the Auditor General’s spring 2012 Report concluded Tuesday.

While most imported consumer goods that pose a risk to the health and safety of Canadians are “adequately controlled at the border” by CBSA in partnership with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Natural Resources Canada, and Transport Canada, the border agency’s relationship with Health Canada needs to be cleared up, the report says.

“The CBSA has formal arrangements with the three other organizations in our audit, as yet it has no formal agreement with Health Canada that documents respective roles, responsibilities, policies, and procedures for implementing controls on several products under Health Canada’s responsibility,” it states.

“Until there is a formal agreement, border services officers do not have consistent instruction in procedures to follow for these products,” it continues.

According to auditor general’s office experts, the medical devices in question were bandages and an unregistered pest control product, a type of insecticide that, while permitted in the United States, is banned in Canada.

The bandage, they said, could entail risk if not stored properly — as bacteria could find its way into packaging.

The division of roles, responsibilities, and service standards between CBSA and the other departments, the report says, are generally laid out in internal documents known as “D memoranda.”

Between 2000 and 2004, however, CBSA stopped administering several Health Canada paper-based requirements at the border because they weren’t consistent with CBSA’s attempts to automate the importing process.

Therefore, despite the fact that most importers were likely fulfilling their legal obligation “to provide permits or import declaration forms with their shipments of some products,” border officers simply stopped reviewing them.

Though this eventually led to a memorandum of understanding that was signed last November, it did not include a specific clarification of the respective roles, responsibilities, policies, and procedures of the two bodies.

“Health Canada still expects that border services officers will refer shipments if they have any concerns about compliance with the Department’s import requirements. The CBSA, however, does have the same expectation of its officers for all Health Canada products,” the report says.

As a result of the report’s findings and recommendations, the agency and the department have agreed to carry out two annexes to their memorandum of understanding that will clearly define their respective roles and responsibilities.

The first is expected by March 2014 — the second, a year later, in March 2014.